Daisies of the Galaxy [Explicit Lyrics]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com's Best of 2000
Listening to the unbridled grief on Electro-Shock Blues was an unsettling affair, despite the album's beautiful pop-scrim setting. So one listens to Daisies of the Galaxy for the first time with trepidation--like willfully banging on your foot with a ball-peen hammer just for the endorphin rush. But if Blues was about the descent, Daisies is about the ascension toward a fragile health. "I'm feeling pretty good now," E sings on "Grace Kelly Blues." However, the music breaks and quivers with a kind of emotional instability, undermining his assurances. It's a tender balance, and no one registers the sad-happy yin-yang of life with tenderness quite like E. Which in some ways is pretty damned unsettling. --Tod Nelson --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Amazon.com
This follow-up to 1998's grief-stricken Electro-Shock Blues finds head Eel E (that's all, just E) on steadier emotional footing, but don't expect cascading rays of sunshine to break through the clouds that cover this Southern California popmeister's world. The tone is set by the imagistic opener, "Grace Kelly Blues," which captures snapshots of misbegotten souls--a mime, a truck driver, a mall rat, the star-crossed movie star/princess who gives the song its name--before focusing in on E himself,... read more --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Daisies of the Galaxy [Explicit Lyrics]

Tracks:

Grace Kelly Blues
Packing Blankets
The Sound Of Fear
I Like Birds
Daisies Of The Galaxy
Flyswatter
It's A Motherf#&!@r
Estate Sale
Tiger In My Tank
A Daisy Through Concrete
Jeannie's Diary
Wooden Nickels
Something Is Sacred
Selective Memory
Mr. E's Beautiful Blues

Amazon.com's Best of 2000

Listening to the unbridled grief on Electro-Shock Blues was an unsettling affair, despite the album's beautiful pop-scrim setting. So one listens to Daisies of the Galaxy for the first time with trepidation--like willfully banging on your foot with a ball-peen hammer just for the endorphin rush. But if Blues was about the descent, Daisies is about the ascension toward a fragile health. "I'm feeling pretty good now," E sings on "Grace Kelly Blues." However, the music breaks and quivers with a kind of emotional instability, undermining his assurances. It's a tender balance, and no one registers the sad-happy yin-yang of life with tenderness quite like E. Which in some ways is pretty damned unsettling. --Tod Nelson

Amazon.com

This follow-up to 1998's grief-stricken Electro-Shock Blues finds head Eel E (that's all, just E) on steadier emotional footing, but don't expect cascading rays of sunshine to break through the clouds that cover this Southern California popmeister's world. The tone is set by the imagistic opener, "Grace Kelly Blues," which captures snapshots of misbegotten souls--a mime, a truck driver, a mall rat, the star-crossed movie star/princess who gives the song its name--before focusing in on E himself, who volunteers, "Me, I'm feeling pretty good now ... I think you know I'll be OK." From there, we're immersed in E's own version of Pleasantville, where gorgeous melodies and ornate arrangements adorn sad-sack sentiments. In the end, Daises is the work of a gifted composer/producer/performer who is indeed feeling OK. Not great, mind you. But OK. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews:

Eccentric and brilliant.......2007-05-20

The Eels bizarre and indescribable sound is definitely an acquired taste, but "Daisies of the Galaxy" is proof that it's a taste worth acquiring. Even if you've heard the samples and hate them, I'd still recommend buying this album. I can't explain why, exactly, but after a few listens I guarantee you'll believe you got your money's worth.

my favorite eels.......2007-02-16

i love all of the eels recordings, but this is my favorite. Mr. E is one of the very best songwriters on the contemporary scene, with music and lyrics that are creative and heartfelt and sparkle with a sad beauty. my 3 favorite songs of his all happen to be on this cd: "grace kelly blues," "i like birds," and "mr. e's blues." each of these tunes is a masterpiece from a truly original voice. I will end by saying: "get everything you can by eels, but the best place to start is here."

Superb........2006-08-16

An under-rated gem in the Eels catalog. This is my favorite Eels album. Grace Kelly Blues and Daisies Of The Galaxy are two of E's greatest songs. Outstanding.

quality garantee.......2006-03-23

I have never been an anyone's fan but I cannot hide my appreciation for Eels' bandleader Mark Everett. From the start when I listened to "Beautiful Freak" I have always liked his low profile and his great sense of melody following californian tradition. As Brian Wilson did he invented great tunes fullfilling them with both freshness and semplicity, a real hard task - believe me.
The songs are very delicate and sweet. Sometimes melancholic, but mostly exciting especially "Tiger in my tank", "Mr. E's blues" and "Grace Kelly blues", "Flyswatter". Production skills underlines Everett's ability as one of the greatest arranger of our time. The lyrics shows how much bizarre a californian guy can be.
The fifth star is missing because for considering an album a masterpiece widespread approval and success(even not only commercial) is needed and Eels will probably remain a cult band. One of my favorite anyway.
Great lyrics, gorgeous music, higly recommended

God-damn right, its beautiful day.......2005-03-28

One of those intriguing albums that makes you wonder how you missed it when it first came out. Ambitious and clever, full of wry sardonic tunes. Another reviewer described the music as breaking and "quivering with emotional instability," and that sums up the moody melodic tension perfectly.

Despite the sarcastic / bittersweet feel to most of the disc, the final cut "Mr Es Beautiful Blues" is one of the most optimistically melodic post-depressive songs I've ever gotten stuck in my head. God-damn right, its beautiful day.

Bonus: The band's alter ego, MC Honky (http://www.eelstheband.com/honkycontent.html), put out the retro tune "Sonnet no. 3 (Like A Duck)." The video is way beyond amusing. http://www.eelstheband.com/likeaduck.mpeg

Average customer rating:

Daisies Of The Galaxy
Eels
Manufacturer: Dreamworks
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000LYBO5U

Average customer rating:

STILL GENIUS
A Re-Review...
Edited? Yes, but...
I Disagree
Censored!

Daisies of the Galaxy
Eels
Manufacturer: Dreamworks
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Post Grunge | American Alternative | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00004RCW0
Release Date: 2000-03-14

Tracks:

Grace Kelly Blues
Packing Blankets
The Sound Of Fear
I Like Birds
Daisies Of The Galaxy
Flyswatter
Its A Monstertrucker
Estate Sale
Tiger In My Tank
A Daisy Through Concrete
Jeannie's Diary
Wooden Nickels
Something Is Sacred
Selective Memory
Bonus Track

Customer Reviews:

STILL GENIUS.......2000-09-15

ON HEARING THERE PREVIOUS ALBUMS I COULDN'T WAIT TO OWN A COPY OF DAISIES OF THE GALAXY. AND I CAN TELL YOU IT WAS WORTH WAITING FOR. MR E AND HIS COLLEAGUES GENERATE THE MOST ENJOYABLE AND LISTENABLE MUSIC I'VE EVER HEARD. THERE ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS FANTASTIC AND IT SHOWS IN THERE LATEST ALBUM. EACH SONG IN IT'S OWN RIGHT IS GOOD.I THINK THE REASON THAT IT'S GOOD IS BECAUSE MR E WRITES THESE SONGS FROM THE HEART. AND HAVING SEEN THEM LIVE YOU GET TO EXPERIENCE THE VAST ENERGY THAT THESE GUY'S PRODUCE. MY FAVOURITE ON THE ALBUM IS I LIKE BIRDS BECAUSE IT'S SIMPLICITY COMPLIMENTS IT'S MEANINGFULNESS.

A Re-Review..........2000-04-25

I now own the "edited" copy of this album, and am in a better position to write about the so-called "censorship" issue. The Monstertrucker song I refer to in my previous review is, in fact, the only edited track on the CD, with unedited uses of the s-word sprinkled throughout the rest of the disk. So not much was done to it, apart from cleaning it up for post-10PM radio.

As for the music itself, I raise my review by a star. There's a nice diversity of sound, including a number of electronically spiked tunes ala "Cancer for the Cure" or "Last Stop This Town" from Electroshock Blues (including "Flyswatter", and my personal favorite on the disc, "Sound of Fear"), and some more introspective acoustic stuff ("Something Is Sacred"). There's some nice grooves here too, such as the snappy 3/4-time "Daisy Through Concrete."

I do have some criticisms. A few of the songs do sound remarkably similar, notably the first two tracks. I found myself getting the chorus of "Packing Blankets" stuck in my head all too easily. And "Tiger in my Tank" sounds a bit too much like Jimmy Buffet for it's own good.

Ultimately, it's a solid album and worth the buy, especially if you're a fan of the band's past work. The edited content is almost worth the price itself, with a clever job done by E and company of integrating the edit into the music (see my previous review).

Edited? Yes, but..........2000-04-07

First, I give the album 3 stars simply because I've not heard all of it, but I like what I've heard.

Beautiful Freak is one of my favorite albums, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found daisies of the galaxy among the titles in the new CD rack at my college radio station (KDIC, Grinnell) during my show. It was the edited version, which is natural, since it's for radio. We decided to play track 7, "It's a Motherf***er," which has been altered on the edited version to be "It's a Monstertrucker." This would be really bad, except they designed the label (and the lyrics sheet inside) to clearly show that this is not the original lyric. The appearance is that "monstertrucker" has been pasted (at an angle!) on top of the offending word. In the song, the eels have inserted a guy saying the new word on a bullhorn or cb radio or something. His tone of voice clearly does not fit with the song, but it's not supposed to. The guy also mutters some radio-talk during non-lyric sections. The effect is sinilar to the girl on the phone during "manchild" on Beautiful Freak. In any case, the eels have taken what could have been a really bad situation and done something artistic with it. Whether or not they were happy with that remains to be seen. But I'm impressed enough that I may seek to buy this version.

Apart from this specific album, let's face it. Music editing is an unfortunate reality in today's world of college radio and Walmart. I would not, for instance, want an edited copy of Rage's Battle of Los Angeles, but there may be people out there who do, or who want their children to. You are not asked or forced to buy this version, but it is available to those who like the eels' music but object to explicit content.

I Disagree.......2000-03-25

I haven't heard the album yet, and when I do, I fully intend to buy the uncut version. But I think its unfair to criticize the label for putting out 2 versions. It isn't necessarily censorship, as the uncut version is widely available. Releasing a version of the album without explicit lyrics is simply being responsible. Now anybody can enjoy the music regardless of how they (or their parents) feel about obscenities. As long as the artist agrees with the decision to do so (and I don't know if E did), I see no problem with releasing multiple versions of an album.

Censored!.......2000-03-23

I live in France and didnt know this album was censored in the states (of course it's not here as no albums ever gets censored)

Eels produces some really great insightful meaningful (put your best adjective here) music, and hearing any cuss words is not shocking at all. It express the band's sadness and anger to things like the loss of a friend... it goes with the context